Initiative

Female Leadership Development Program

Summary of the initiative

Budapest Bank offers financial services to individuals and businesses.

Budapest Bank is a founder and an active member of the Equal Opportunity Forum of Employers, set up in 2010.

A Female Leadership Development Programme was launched in 2011. The one-year programme’s aim is to help women middle managers to reach their career goals. Four of the 11 participating women employees are now working in a higher position or as a leader of a more complex area.

Female workers of the bank set up the Budapest Bank’s Women’s Network in 2000. It provides assistance to career development of women through education, training sessions, professional seminars, by exchanging information and experiences, changing cultural attitudes and with volunteering programmes. The Network’s activity in 2012 included organising charity drives and events, supporting women returning from maternity leave, and a Green Office programme. The Women’s Network keeps in touch with women on maternity leave, and invites them to its events, which help them stay connected with the working world. This way it is easier for them to come back to work and improve their careers. 

Budapest Bank introduced flexible employment forms in 2002. Workers in changed life situations generally use these options, so they are especially important for mothers-to-be and women returning from maternity leave. Nearly 500 of employees work from home from time to time, and 6% of employees have part-time jobs (four or six hours a day), which largely contributes to creating work-life balance. Besides these opportunities, Budapest Bank introduced the so-called job-sharing solution, in which a qualified position is filled with two employees. The most important condition of this is that both jobholders share the same skills and experiences in order to handle an equal amount of job load. 

Budapest Bank’s organizational development strategy pays strong attention and special focus on promoting female talents into senior, complex roles, close to decision-making. Currently 39% of the bank top management’s direct reports are female, who are involved in strategic as well as operational decision-making on a daily basis.